(via Groklaw) Red Hat and Novell, owners of the two largest Linux enterprise distributions, have been sued in Texas (where else?) by patent troll IP Innovation, part of the troll tribe Acacia. The subject of the litigation is U.S. Patent 5,072,412, which protects a user interface with multiple workspaces for Read more…
A couple of separate pieces exemplify some of the problems and opportunities for virtual worlds. Firstly, Reuters reports that several companies are re-thinking their virtual world strategy. Companies spent millions to jump into the Second Life bandwagon only to find that nobody visits the vast corporate environments (“if you build Read more…
(via EFF) Yahoo Music’s general manager has had it with DRM. Just to refresh everyone’s memory, the growing rebel alliance against technological protection measures now includes EMI, Apple, Universal, eMusic and Amazon. There is also the growing phenomenon of the DRM-free online release band. Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have Read more…
Costa Rica held a referendum on Sunday October 7th to decide whether or not it would approve the Dominican Republic and Central America Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and the ayes have the day with 51.6% against 48.4% nays. I have always been conflicted about DR-CAFTA. This is Read more…
(via BBC) Tyre and brake fitters Kwik-Fit have been sued in Edinburgh by the UK’s Performing Rights Society. The subject of the action is the fact that according to the plaintiffs, Kwik-Fit employers have been playing their radios loudly, where it can be heard by other employees and customers. This Read more…
Jordan Hatcher has published a draft of the Open Database Licence, which is an agreement intended to allow users to “freely share, modify, and use” databases while maintaining the same freedoms for others. I’ve gone through the draft, and it is pretty good stuff. The licence clearly helps to plug Read more…
Jammie Thomas, the Minnesota woman on trial for making music available in the Kazaa network, has lost her jury case and will have to pay the plaintiffs $220,000 USD (that’s $248,000 AUS). The Duluth jury held her liable for $9,250 for each of the 24 songs that were subject to Read more…
The trial of Jammie Thomas in Minnesota continues. Some very interesting revelations so far, including an RIAA spokesman claiming that making even one copy of a song is “stealing”, and the prosecution proving conclusively that the KaZaa login subject of the trial is the same that Thomas used in several Read more…
Erick Iriarte has sent this message for distribution: VII World Congress of Computer Law / VII Congreso Mundial de Derecho InformaticoWhen: 3-7 December 2007Where: San Juan, Puerto RicoSteering Committee: University of Puerto Rico / Puerto Rico Bar Association / Inter American University of Puerto Rico / Alfa-RediWebsite: http://www.alfa-redi.com/viicongress/ About Congress: Read more…
(via Wired) Jammie Thomas, a 30-something mother from Minnesota accused by the RIAA of sharing 1,702 audio files, will go to court to defend her innocence this week. Welcome to Virgin v Thomas, the first jury trial in the RIAA’s four year campaign to sue 20,000 of its potential customers, Read more…